Your True Self
by Novirp13
Summary: Can be confusing when you have another one of them/ (Or, It didn't count as an identity fraud if you chose to wear it in the first place)/ In Which Twilight is the last Link to recruit (Linked Universe). I edited the story. For the old reader of this fic, please check it out. Because the ending is completely different from before


**YOUR TRUE SELF**

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**Disclaimer: **Legend of Zelda belongs to Nintendo

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**Genre(s): **Hurt/Comfort

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**Warning(s): Typo** is my most loyal fan, **spelling mistakes** because English is not my mother language, Possibly **OOC**. **NO BETA**, so beware of grammar mistakes

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**Summary: **Can be confusing when you have another one of them

(Or, It didn't count as an identity fraud if you chose to wear it in the first place)

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Time's hatred towards Hylia was evident from the very first day. He won't come near the Master Sword from within three to five meters if he could, being passive-aggressive whenever the Goddesses' name was uttered, and just plain, old scoffing when he was in a bad mood. Of course, he tried to never reach that level when he was around the other Links, especially Sky. However, whether he showed his disdain discreetly or blatantly for the world to see, everyone knew Time _hated_ Hylia.

And that feeling was cemented rather permanently when they were forced to fight right after they just woke up.

He cursed and ducked, piercing the body of the Poe yet to no avail. What the hell is wrong with this enemy? Poe was usually easy to dispose of, they weren't particularly a tough cookie to crack nor a mid-boss of a dungeon. They've been fighting these hordes of mischievous ghosts for half an hour, but they still couldn't defeat them. In fact, they've cornered the heroes from all sides. Left, right, top to bottom. Giggling and cackling, while his teammates panted in exhaustion. What should he do? Was the reason why this kind of Poe existed because of an anomaly produced by the _Shadow?_ Or was it the usual, normal creatures? A norm, for this new world they, unfortunately, landed themselves in. Physical attack won't connect, magic attack passed right through. Warriors screamed about Hyrule's condition, who was on the verge of unconsciousness and Time was frustrated beyond reason.

When he thought '_This is it. This is where I die_', hope diminished as the second ticked by, a threatening howl suddenly reverberated. Every single being that was present tensed, body turned rigid. From the edge of the lush forest and into the plain meadow where this unfair fight ensued, a black and white wolf pounced. With a ferocity known only to a wild animal, it snapped his jaw shut to the nearest Poe.

And somehow, it…worked.

Time didn't know how and why, but this beast could kill the untouchable ghosts just fine. It jumped and lept. Gnawed and tore. The Heroes of Courage could only gape in astonishment while the dog did all the job. Twenty or more Poes that seemed endless just a moment ago was long gone, leaving dying screeches and wisp of black smoke, trailing to the sunset.

(Well...at least Hylia was nice enough to send them a reinforcement.)

Everything went silent. The leaves didn't rustle, the wind decided to keep quiet. It almost like the world was waiting for the inevitable to happen and apprehension started to build up at every inch of the Links' pores. Now that their imminent death was nowhere to be seen, another realization dawned upon them all. This thing, is a _wolf_. A _carnivorous_ wolf that'll eat any meat who stood on its way. With no monsters for him to shred nor opponent to play with, will it turn its back and finally attack every single one of them? If it comes to that, however, he'll put the animal down, Time unconsciously tightened the grip on his sword's handle. He was a bad leader just a moment ago, not knowing what to do with the unexpected appearance of weird opponents and, rather than trying to keep the spirit up, chose to run around in panic like a cucco without its feather.

Sometimes, he wondered why the rest of the group didn't point Warriors as their main leader, instead of a sub. He's _a_ captain, flirt, and unnecessary charm asides. He was the first one to realize when Hyrule staggered on his own feet, recognizing the sign of nausea almost immediately. He kept a clear mind and still shouting out detailed order as a follow-up from Time's advice; who kept getting shorter and shorter. Clearly, the younger man was a perfect person to lead over the heroes rather than a kid who was forced to mature a little bit too early.

Anyway, Time digressed. He won't let the wolf touch a single hair of his friends if he turned out to be an enemy. It wasn't a Poe. It was all flesh and bone and he was pretty sure normal attack will strike him down, unlike those unnatural specters. Wolf shifted its attention onto them, the Old Man crouched slightly, gaze trained onto the dog's own blues, ready to throw himself into the ring at any moment notice.

Then he stuttered to a halt when the big dog plopped to the ground, a pained whimper escaped from its' half-opened maw.

Wild instantly moved closer, followed by Sky and Wind. The rest sedately followed. Some were too tired to move—Four, Legend and Hyrule—or completely suspicious—Warriors and Time, "it hurt its stomach," their cook informed, prodding the open wound, "and it wasn't recent too, most of them had already decayed. It been fighting those Poes with an open injury, poor thing…"

"Let…let me," Hyrule stepped forward. Or rather, _staggered_ forward, "let me…heal him…"

"Oh no, you don't," Warriors rejected, fists on his waist and both eyebrows furrowed, "you're on your last leg, kid. Another burst of magic and you're going to put yourself into a coma."

"B-But it helped us…"

"Then we'll help him back. Manually," Time crouched down, every gesture were purposely exaggerated as to not agitated the ill wolf. He rummaged through his bag, pulling out a red potion and a roll of white bandages, "pick up all of your scattered weapons, I'll handle this. Malon will kill me if she knows I abandon an animal in need."

The other nodded and proceeded to do so. Time poured a good amount of the medicine to his handkerchief, carefully dabbed it onto the injured stomach. Wolf winced and whined, but he didn't squirm. Maybe because the armor wearer exuded a friendly aura after living half his life as a rancher, maybe the wolf is a smart animal, maybe a bit of both. Whatever the reason, he was just glad it didn't refuse his aid like most wary animals tended to do.

The night had fallen but nobody was resting. Trusting Wind's uncanny sense of finding the nearest settlement, they quickly yet carefully brought the Wolf to the vet. Unexpectedly, nobody was scared by the appearance of a 'wild beast'. In fact, they appeared to be concern over it. It appeared that this Wolf helped them a ton in driving back the monsters, guarding over the traveler, and had become a trusted companion whenever the day was too harsh or the night was too silent. Rusl, a big man with a nice heart, pointed them to the nearest vet, stroking Wolf's head in a gentle manner. When they arrived, they were met with a cheery girl. Hair was short brown and warm orbs that gave them serenity. A smile plastered over her unblemished complexion. But it turned to horror when she saw the Wolf Time carried, she hurriedly lept over any trinkets that were sprawling all over the ground and instantly checked over it, "wha-what happened to him?!"

"We don't know. He," _it's a boy, apparently, "_were already injured before he helped us in destroying the Poes."

Illia—the girl's name, written on the nameplate on top of the low desk—snatched the animal away from Time's hands effortlessly. She removed the old man's meticulous bandage, and looked over the wound under the white cloth, "this...this is bad..."

Bad indeed, as Time saw the wound spread to the surrounding skins. Time's red potion didn't work at all. Whatever injury this was, it worked too well to an animal and will probably kill him. _His breath started to quicken too, growling and gasping pathetically. _Illia glanced toward the heroes, biting her lips in contemplation, "um, excuse me. Would you mind waiting outside?"

_Huh?_

"Why?" Legend squinted his eyes, "is this a hopeless case? Are you trying to put him out of his misery?"

"Legend!" Hyrule hissed, shoving his elbow to his predecessor's solar plexus.

Illia herself was affronted. Not at his tone but at the idea he just suggested, "no! There's no way I-"

"Then save him," the pink-haired teen scowled, hands folded in front of his chest, "tell him to change back and heal him with a fairy. Easy."

Time tilted his head at the particular word (change back?) while Illia's eyes slowly widened, "you...you knew?"

"I've sensed dark magic from him so I used my magic mirror," Legend huffed, his stern yet worried stare kept boring onto Wolf's apprehensive one, "we won't tell anyone. Go back to your Hylian form already so the girl can treat you."

_...what?!_

_Hylian form?!_

"You heard him," Illia ran her fingers on his fur, smiling reassuredly, "nobody will judge you, Link. I promised."

Wolf glanced at the gaping men (even Legend. He may know about the beast true face, but he didn't know this animal was the hero they were searching) and let out a (humanly) sigh. He slowly, painstakingly, stood on the examination table, and an ominous, dark light shone from within. It covered the whole room for a split second, forcing everyone to cover their eyes, before a man clad in a green tunic, wolf pelt that snuggled his neck close, and familiar blue orbs were hesitantly peeking from under the dirty blonde hair. While Illia handled his injury with a bottle of fairy, Link had a staring contest with the Chosen Heroes, tense and definitely awkward.

"Done. Now, you should rest for a da—hey!" The vet exclaimed in shock when Link jumped forward, startling everyone present, and escaped from the suffocating house by changing his self back to the previous four-legs beast. Illia's hand hung on the air, mouth opened. Until the current situation dawn upon her and she sighed, extreme sadness was palpable on her downcast expression, "oh, Link. You need to know that _that accident _wasn't your fault..."

"Hey," Illia turned, staring at all of the grown men, "if you find him along your journey, would you mind taking care of him? He...I think he's pushing himself too much."

"Because of the accident?" Warriors asked back, not at all ashamed of his act of eavesdropping over the girl's soft whisper just a second ago.

Illia grimaced, "y-yes. A girl was hurt badly just a month ago, sniped by a wandering Bokoblin. She's...still in a coma and Link felt like it was his fault because he didn't change into his Wolf form immediately and saved her from the attack."

"And he decided to stay as a wolf forever so an accident such as before won't happen again," Wild concluded.

She nodded, "physically, he's the strongest person around this part. But mentally..."

Time remembered one particular aspect of his journey. _Of his second journey. A journey he wished to forget and buried. _He remembered the mask, the moon. An ocarina and a raspy plea. The nightmare followed him till the sun rose and Time _wondered._

_Wondered if Hylia will ever give an appropriate reprieve to her chosen one in this bleak life of constant battles._

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**(A/N): **

**BONUS:**

Time: "Never a day did I forget the moment I couldn't save him"

Wolfie: *ears perked up*

Time: "His name is Mikau. He was a Zora, trying to save the baby of his friend from the clutch of the evil Gerudo. I was right there when I saw their confrontation happened. When I saw him stabbed through a stomach."

Time: "I was 10, when I met Mikau. 10, as I tried to bring him to the shore. Tried to stop the bleeding yet to no avail. 10…when he died on my hand."

Time: "Do you know the reason why I was called 'the Hero of Time'? It's because I _literally _traveled through time. Forced to adapt to my 17 years old body to save the world. I always hated that form. So clunky and awkward. But at that time, when I met Mikau, I hoped…I was a little taller. A little bit _bigger. _Maybe, just maybe, if I have that form—"

Time: _"Maybe I could finally save him"_

Wolfie: "…"

Time: "I know you can't force someone to stop mourning. I know how _hard_ it is to drag yourself out of the hole of despair and darkness. But, please Link. You have to remember..."

Time: "Your happiness matter too."

**(It took another month of traveling together. When they woke up and saw Link standing near the outskirt of the clearing, reluctant and scared, everyone breathed out a sigh of relief. Time smiled with arms wide open, saying, "welcome to the group, Link")**

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The series has finally end~

With a sprinkle of angst too! Because, who hated angst? Definitely me. And I kinda hated myself for hurting a couple of boys in this series but eeeh.

Btw, don't go away just yet, guys. I have _another_ hero to join in on this rooster of one-shot fanfic. I already drew his design and I need to write the story now, but when it comes out, I hope u'll like it :D


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